Traditionally, wine bottles have been sealed with natural corks. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the corked bottles and the increasing scarcity of high quality corks, a certain percentage of wines, approximately 5%, become spoiled or “corked” due to unwanted exposure to air since the wine cannot be kept air tight. The wine spoilage is becoming a significant issue in the wine industry.
To address this issue, the wine industry has increasingly turned to non-traditional methods to bottle wines. These include artificial corks and twistable bottle caps, typically made from aluminum. For example, the Selvyn brand cap, manufactured by Pechiney of France, is currently the market leader. The adoption of Selvyn cap and similar wine bottle closures has been slow to occur principally due to aesthetic reasons. Namely, there is a view that the twistable wine cap degrades the wine enthusiast's overall experience.
In addition to their new application as wine closures, twistable bottle caps have long been used to seal soft drinks, including pop or soda such as Coca Cola™ or Pepsi™, and are starting to be used with certain brands of beer, wine coolers and other alcoholic beverages. These twistable caps may also be made from metal such as aluminum.
While there is little to no issue with such beverages of manufacturer's or consumers' acceptance, there is a segment of the population who, because of infirmities such as arthritis, Parkinson's disease or other maladies that affect manual dexterity, may have difficulty removing such twistable caps.